WORLD

The Union Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that the issue of travel restrictions has been taken up at the Ministerial level with several countries. Giving further details in Rajya Sabha, Union Minister V Muraleedharan said that after talks began, the travel restrictions are being eased for Indian students to travel to many countries, including USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands,Belgium, Luxembourg, Georgia.

He also added that the MEA has been making efforts for easing travel restrictions wherever in place, for Indian students enrolled in foreign universities to make their travel to their respective countries possible.

"More countries are expected to open up when Covid situation improves," V Muraleedharan said in Rajya Sabha.

Describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban in their advance across Afghanistan as “deeply troubling”, visiting US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken said Wednesday that this does not speak well of Taliban “intentions” and “taking over power by force” cannot be a path to international recognition.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who was listening when Blinken made these remarks, spelt out India’s redlines: that the outcome in Afghanistan should not be “decided by force on the battlefield”; that there is “broad and deep consensus” on a negotiation that leads to peace and cessation of violence; and that there should be a political settlement.

Sources said there was more common ground in this discussion on Afghanistan than before.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday evening reached Tajikistan on a three-day trip to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), during which he may also meet with his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe at Dushanbe.

Sources said though a bilateral meeting between the two defence ministers has “not yet been scheduled”, India is not averse to a discussion if China wants it. “A bilateral meeting with China is not ruled out,” said a source.

“Singh, as it is, will stress the need for a peaceful settlement of all issues through dialogue in the region, including in war-ravaged Afghanistan, during his address at the SCO defence ministers’ meet on Wednesday,” he added. On July 14, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had also held an hour-long meeting with his counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of another SCO meet at Dushanbe.

With Covid positive cases ticking past 52,000 per day, the United States has once again surpassed India (less than 40,000 cases per day as per official count) amid growing regret and recrimination among some anti-vaxxers but also continued resistance among diehards skeptics of the vaccine.

Alarm bells are ringing again after a 170 per cent jump in cases over in the US the past two weeks. Experts are cautioning that continued resistance and defiance among anti-vaxxers is leading to what is being now being called the "pandemic of the unvaccinated".

Three cases in the past week highlighted the political and ideological fight that has infected the debate on the pandemic.

The ministry of defense of Afghanistan on Saturday (July 24) claimed that their security forces have killed as many as 262 Taliban terrorists across various provinces in just 24 hours.

The forces further said 176 terrorists were injured during the operations and 21 Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were defused.

“262 Taliban terrorists were killed and 176 were wounded as a result of #ANDSF operations in Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar, Ghazni, Paktia, Kandahar, Herat, Balkh, Jowzjan, Helmand, Kunduz & Kapisa provinces during the last 24 hours. Also, 21 IEDs were discovered & defused,” the ministry said in a tweet.

According to the ministry, security operations are being conducted continuously throughout the country, especially in the territories the Taliban has advanced.